Mercury.AI: Safety equipment detection system for enhanced workplace health and safety
Workplace injuries, fatalities resulting from accidents, and on-site deaths represent a complex and challenging process for employers. Liability risk increases exponentially with the number of workers and the complexity of the work process. The primary objective of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is to ensure a safe and secure work process through preventive measures. Following a critical incident, the first questions asked are whether workers were using the prescribed protective equipment and adhering to safety procedures. These questions are not only a matter of legal liability but also a significant reputational risk for employers. In complex environments with a high risk of human error—such as construction, heavy industry, and manufacturing plants—it is impossible to visually monitor every workstation throughout the entire work process. Annually, approximately 200 workers perish in the Western Balkans, while injuries are measured in the thousands.
At Mercury.AI, we have recognized this vulnerability stemming from the human factor. Companies invest heavily in protective gear and masks, but workers often fail to comply with prescribed safety measures. Our goal at Mercury.AI is not to merely document breaches of labor discipline; rather, our detection system is designed to warn of such behavior and act preventively. Our ultimate mission is to elevate the standards of occupational health and safety.
Workers in the construction industry remain the most vulnerable. On a construction site, safety must be the top priority. Our platform allows you to preempt accidents using advanced, real-time safety equipment detection. The solution can verify whether every worker is wearing the prescribed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) upon entering the work environment, as well as during the work process itself. Furthermore, the Mercury.AI system detects movement within restricted zones.
This advanced system, integrated with our Video Management System (VMS) and powered by artificial intelligence, detects the absence of PPE in real-time. It triggers an alarm if workers are not wearing helmets, gloves, vests, goggles, or any other specific protective gear configured in the system. We can detect the absence of various types of equipment even in low-visibility conditions or from difficult camera angles. This is particularly beneficial for construction sites and outdoor operations during night shifts or at dusk. The specific configuration of a construction site or the complexity of its zones poses no obstacle to our solution.
The detection platform does not require additional costs but can be integrated with existing infrastructure for video surveillance. The focus is on raising the operational efficiency of clients, whether they come from the commercial, security, or government sector, therefore our solution is based on a modern environment. Mercury.AI solutions will never burden regular functioning and work processes. During the creation of our solution, we identified specific vulnerabilities for different work processes. Outdoor construction sites are characterized by a high fluctuation of workers, subcontractors, and external associates over a vast space. Additionally, we can identify everyone who enters the work zone without protective equipment; these can also be curious citizens. Manual oversight by construction site managers is physically impossible at every moment at every point. Workers at heights or in remote zones often remove helmets due to heat or discomfort, which drastically increases the risk of fatal injuries. The lack of continuous insight creates “blind spots” in the safety protocol. In our short analysis, let’s observe a production hall. The high tempo in factory halls and on production lines often leads to the routinization of movements and a drop in concentration. In halls where machines work at high speed, even the smallest failure in wearing equipment (e.g., protective gloves or vests) can lead to permanent disability. The challenge is to maintain discipline without slowing down the production process. Traditional cameras only record incidents, but they do not prevent them in real time. Mercury.AI automatically detects threats in a dynamic environment, it can detect multiple incidents and locate them at the same time. Most production plants, storehouses, and warehouses have marked zones for the safe movement of people and machines. A worker leaving the safe zone by crossing the line can be automatically detected with an acoustic warning, which prevents the possibility of a machine-human collision. Our system can establish safe and dangerous zones, which automatically raises an alarm in case of movement in a dangerous zone. Let’s consider one more situation of working in a dangerous environment like a mine where the absence of wearing a protective mask is not just a disciplinary violation but often a path to certain death. Long-term absence of wearing chemical protective equipment can create different types of diseases. To us at Mercury.AI, the goal is not to identify disciplinary violations but to create a safe environment that will protect the worker, the employer, prevent injuries and fatal outcomes, and prevent additional business costs. Our approach is always human-oriented. Therefore, our video surveillance solutions are highly ethical, efficient, and always adapted to real situations.
